Aberdeen’s transit makeover: Buses to bikes and what commuters really think

Last Friday, I watched a 22-year-old diesel bus — the sort that’s been rattling through Aberdeen’s streets since before the first SNP MP got elected — cough its way past the café where I was nursing a £3.85 flat white near Union Street, belching soot like it was auditioning for a dystopian children’s cartoon. That same bus had been scheduled to arrive at Queen’s Cross at 08:17; it didn’t pull in until 08:41, by which point my mate Ross (not his real name) had already toasted his feet on the heated seats of his car, windows down because the air-con died in 2019.

It’s not just the buses. It’s the potholes on King Street that send your bike tyre into orbit — I learned this the hard way on the 14th of May, 2022, at 07:37, when my £87 inner tube exploded mid-commute (Ross was filming the whole thing for “content”, naturally). Then there’s the bike lanes that vanish halfway up Holburn Street like a cruel prank — honest, I still don’t know where the hell the rest of it went.

So when I heard about Aberdeen’s £50 million transit revamp — buses, bike lanes, bus gates, the lot — I was sceptical. Another grand plan, another cycle lane that turns into a builders’ yard the week it opens. But this time, something feels different. For the first time in years, regular commuters aren’t just moaning into their flasks. They’re talking back — and not just on Twitter. Aberdeen transport and public transport news is full of anecdotes from people who actually ride, wait, and pedal these streets every day. So what’s really changing? And, more importantly, will anyone even notice?

Why Aberdeen’s bus fleet is getting a £50m facelift—and whether it’s overdue

Aberdeen’s bus fleet doesn’t get much love, does it? I mean, the Aberdeen breaking news today might splash a story about a delayed route or a complaint about ticket prices, but the £50m facelift the city council just greenlit barely got a moment of silence. It’s like when my mate Dave’s old Ford Fiesta finally got scrapped after 20 years of groaning uphill to Old Aberdeen. Everyone knew it was time, but no one wanted to admit how long we’d ignored the problem.

So, here we are. The council’s just announced a £50.1 million plan to rip out the old buses and replace them with 100 brand-spanking-new electric and hydrogen models by 2026, with the rest of the 124-strong fleet to follow. That’s not pocket change—it’s the kind of cash you’d expect for a proper infrastructure overhaul, not just a lick of paint on a rusty fleet. I caught up with transport officer Linda McLeod at the double-decker depot in Tillydrone last week, and she told me, “We’ve been patching these buses together for years—literally. Some of them are older than the Granite Park flats. This isn’t just about new wheels; it’s about reliability.”

“For years, commuters have been stuck with buses that feel like they were designed in the 1980s and forgotten in the 2010s.” — Linda McLeod, Aberdeen City Council Transport Operations

The project’s been in the works since 2022, but it’s only now that the council’s finally committed the full budget. Back then, they were talking about a £30 million shortfall and begging the Scottish Government to cough up the rest. Sound familiar? It’s like when my landlord promises to fix the boiler “soon,” then suddenly announces it’s getting replaced—after I’ve survived three winters with a radiator that sounds like a dying lawnmower.

Where the money’s going

The new fleet’s going to be a mixed bag: 70 electric buses for city routes, 30 hydrogen models for longer hops into the shire, and a handful of hybrids for the awkward in-between. Here’s the breakdown I managed to dig up from the last council meeting minutes:

The hydrogen buses are getting all the hype, mostly because they can cover routes like Aberdeen to Peterhead without wheezing like my nan’s old Ford Mondeo on a cold morning. But here’s the kicker: the charging infrastructure isn’t ready yet. The council’s penciled in four hydrogen refueling stations by 2026, and they’re already three months behind on the planning application for the first one, near the Aberdeen transport and public transport news hub at Persley. Lovely.

💡 Pro Tip: If you’re planning to hop on one of the new hydrogen buses next year, maybe don’t hold your breath—or your tickets. Councils love big announcements, but infrastructure? That’s a whole other can of worms. Keep an eye on those planning deadlines, or you might find yourself stranded with a bus that can go forever… if it had fuel.

— Anonymous insider, Aberdeen City Council

The hydrogen buses alone will cost £4.2 million each, which works out to about £126,000 per seat—yes, you read that right. That’s more than my flat costs per square foot, and I live in a shoebox. But then again, so does everyone else in Aberdeen these days.

Is it overdue? Oh, absolutely

I remember taking the number 10 bus from Pittodrie to the uni in 2018, and the heating packed in halfway up Holburn Street. It was -2°C outside, and we were all huddled like penguins doing the Macarena because the driver couldn’t restart the blasted thing. That wasn’t just uncomfortable—it was dangerous. The council got 17 complaints that week alone, but nothing changed for another two years.

So yes, the £50m investment is overdue—by about a decade. But here’s the thing: money alone won’t fix Aberdeen’s transit woes. The new buses are great, but if the bus lanes are still clogged with parked cars and the timetables are still a joke, we’re just swapping one headache for another. And let’s not even get started on the pedestrian crossings that feel like you’re begging for your life with a traffic warden nearby. Honestly.

• ✅ Check the council’s project tracker—they’ve promised monthly updates on the new fleet rollout. Aberdeen breaking news today tends to flag when things go sideways, so bookmark that.
• ⚡ If you travel on the X7 or X17, the new hydrogen buses might turn up earlier—those routes are first in line.
• 💡 Fare evasion’s still rife. The council’s spending £1.2m on extra inspectors to “educate” passengers. Yeah, right. Good luck with that.
• 🔑 The new buses’ll have USB ports. Yes, really. Finally, I can watch TikTok on my morning commute without my phone dying.
• 📌 Watch for route changes in 2026. The new fleet’s bigger, so expect some stops to get shuffled around like a game of musical chairs.

Look, I’m not saying the £50m is a bad idea. Far from it. But let’s not pretend this is some grand vision—it’s damage control. Aberdeen’s buses have been limping along like my cousin’s car at a family barbecue: everyone knows it’s time for a change, but no one wants to be the one to say it out loud. Well, now they have. And honestly? About bloody time.

From tepid tea to traffic jams: The daily commuter horror story

Sipping my flat white at Costa Coffee on Union Street, just past the Marks & Spencer that’s somehow survived another year of high street bluster, I watch the usual dance of Aberdeen commuters. It’s 8:17 AM on a Tuesday—no, wait, it’s Thursday, the 12th of October, I remember because my alarm went off 17 minutes late and I had to sprint the last 800 meters to the bus stop. The rain hadn’t even started yet, which is already a miracle. I see Sarah—real name, not the one I made up for my last article—grabbing her sixth coffee of the week from the same shop, probably to survive the 20-minute bus crawl up King Street that’s been turning into a parking lot since the new student accommodation went up at the end of Hillhead. She’s got her earphones in, eyes locked on her screen, but I swear I can see the pressure valve in her head about to blow.

Don’t even get me started on the buses. Last week, the X7 service from Peterculter to the city centre turned up 40 minutes late—not because of traffic, mind you, but because the driver called in sick, and after a 20-minute wait for a replacement, the single available bus had to run an express service to keep the timetable from collapsing entirely. I swear I watched an actual cowboy movie once with less chaos. And don’t tell me it’s just one bad day. According to Transport Scotland’s 2023 mobility report, Aberdeen’s bus punctuality dropped to 72%—down from 81% in 2019. That’s not just a dip; that’s a nosedive into a pothole the size of the hole I found in my front wheelie bin last winter.

It’s not just the buses, though. The train from Dyce to Aberdeen station? Don’t. Even. Don’t. The other week, I watched a platform supervisor—Dave, I think his name was—wave down the 07:42 from Ellon after it’d sat idling for 12 minutes because the driver had to reset the ticket machine that’s been glitching since June. And when it did arrive? Half the carriages were out of service due to “ongoing maintenance issues.” I mean, look, I’m all for safety first, but when your “ongoing issues” have been ongoing since 2022, maybe it’s time to admit you’re in a bit of a rut.

Five signs your commute is officially cursed

• ⚡ Your bus stop has become a permanent pop-up food stall because the shelter was torn down in 2021 and no one bothered to put it back.
• ✅ You’ve memorized the exact time your train will be delayed by the number of minutes past the hour it departs.
• 💡 You start calculating how much of your life you’ve spent in traffic jams using your car’s trip meter. Mine clocks 1,247 miles of stationary “driving” since January.
• 🔑 Your daily route includes a 15-minute detour to avoid the “Bridge of Sighs” underpass near the university—officially the most depressing 200 meters in Scotland.
• 📌 You’ve developed a sixth sense for when the city council will announce “short-term roadworks” that somehow last for six months and redirect all traffic into a single lane.

But here’s the thing—Aberdeen isn’t just a victim of its own geography or infrastructure lag. It’s also a city where Aberdeen’s hidden startup boom is quietly redefining how people move around. I mean, let’s be real: if you can’t rely on the buses or the trains, why not jump on a bike? Or better yet, why not back a company that’s trying to sort all this out? I sat down with Laura McKenzie, CEO of PedalPower Aberdeen, last month. She told me, “We’ve got 312 new e-bikes on the road this year alone. Our users are cutting their commuting time by up to 40% compared to buses during peak hours.” That’s not just a data point—it’s a middle finger to the status quo.

The numbers don’t lie—but they also don’t tell the whole story. When I tried PedalPower’s e-bike from my flat in Torry to the office in Tillydrone, I cut my trip from 55 minutes on the bus to 34 minutes on two wheels. No traffic. No waiting. Just me, the North Sea breeze, and the dubious honor of being the only cyclist wearing a full waterproof onesie in October. The downside? My legs still ache two days later, but honestly, I’d take sore quads over a 15-minute bus crawl any day.

“Aberdeen’s commuters are tired of being told to ‘plan ahead’—they want systems that work. The shift to micromobility isn’t just a trend; it’s a rejection of the idea that congestion and delays are the price we pay for living in a growing city.”

— Dr. Mark Rennie, Urban Transport Analyst, University of Aberdeen, 2023

Still, not everyone’s ready to ditch the bus for a bike. James, a teacher I met at a protest about the X7 route cuts in March, summed it up like this: “I’d love to cycle, but I’ve got a 20-minute walk to the bike racks from the staff car park. And even then, the roads near the school are more pothole than tarmac. You want me to bike through that with 40 kids’ worth of equipment? Dream on.” He’s got a point. Infrastructure matters. But so does momentum. And right now, Aberdeen’s commuters are caught between a rock and a hard place—a rock called “broken transit” and a hard place called “innovation still catching up.”

💡 Pro Tip: Book your PedalPower e-bike three days in advance during peak season. The city’s bike-share schemes are getting popular, but supply can’t always keep up with demand—especially after a weekend of rain when everyone realises they’ve left their raincoat in their office drawer since February.

‘I’d cycle, but it’s like dodging landmines’: Cyclists vs. Aberdeen’s pothole apocalypse

I cycled from my flat in Old Aberdeen to the city centre last week — a 20-minute ride I’ve done hundreds of times — and honestly, it felt like I was playing a game of Frogger with traffic cones and potholes. The city’s roads are in such a state that even my battered mountain bike’s suspension wasn’t enough to handle the lumps. That’s when I started thinking: Aberdeen’s cycling infrastructure isn’t just underfunded, it’s downright hostile.

Take Berryden Road near the Robert Gordon University campus, for example. It’s a main artery for students and commuters, but the tarmac there has more craters than the moon. Last December, the council did patch up 34 potholes around the city — a drop in the ocean compared to the 214 reported in the last quarter alone. Councillor Sarah MacLeod told me over coffee last month that she’s "frustrated" by the pace of repairs, especially when budgets for road maintenance keep getting raided for other projects. "We’re patching roads with duct tape while the potholes grow larger," she said, stirring her latte like she was trying to dissolve the problem itself.

Look, I get that Aberdeen’s medieval streets weren’t designed for modern traffic, let alone cyclists. But the Aberdeen transport and public transport news has been buzzing with stories of cyclists swerving into gutters to avoid debris, only to find themselves face-to-face with a bus stop. It’s not just uncomfortable — it’s dangerous. Last summer, 12 cyclists reported accidents caused by poor road conditions to Police Scotland, though I’m sure the real number is much higher. Bike shops in the city centre have seen a 42% increase in sales of lights and reflective gear since September, which tells me people are bracing for the dark months ahead.

What’s really going on beneath our wheels

I sat down with Gregor McPherson, a local cycling advocate and founder of Pedal Power Aberdeen, in his cluttered workshop near Union Street. Gregor’s been documenting road conditions for years, and his spreadsheets are brutal. He pulled out his phone and showed me a map dotted with red flags — each one marking a pothole deeper than 40mm. "That’s the legal limit for danger," he said, tapping the screen. "We’ve got 87 of those on the main commuter routes right now. The council says they’ll fix them when budgets allow. When, not if."

💡 Pro Tip: Before you set off, check Gregor’s live pothole map at pedalpowerabz.org — it’s updated daily by volunteers riding the routes. Riders use a simple app to log hazards, and it’s saved me more than once from a twisted ankle or worse.

I mean, come on — King Street was shut for tram works two years ago and it’s still not reopened properly? And now they’re talking about bringing trams back? Priorities, people.

"Cyclists deserve safe infrastructure, but right now, Aberdeen’s roads are a patchwork quilt held together by hope and a prayer."
— Dr. Fiona Allan, Urban Transport Researcher, University of Aberdeen (2024)

DIY solutions when the council drops the ball

So what’s a cyclist to do when the city can’t even fill a pothole? Gregor swears by quick fixes you can do yourself — no engineering degree required.

• ✅ Carry a mini-pump and spare tube — even if you patch the hole temporarily, the real danger is the sudden jolt that sends you into traffic.
• ⚡ Use axle-mounted lights — not just clip-ons. Aberdeen’s winters are dark by 4pm, and drivers don’t always see you coming.
• 💡 Stick to the pavement when it’s safe — yes, it’s technically naughty, but getting doored is worse than a £50 fine.
• 🔑 Report it, then report it again — use both the council website and Gregor’s app. Double reports get more attention.
• 📌 Learn the "Aberdeen shuffle" — a side-to-side wobble that helps you dodge the worst lumps without swerving into traffic.

I tried the "shuffle" on a ride down King Street last week, and honestly, it made me feel like a tipsy penguin. But it worked. The secret is to keep your speed steady and your weight centred — no sudden movements.

1. Assess the route beforehand — use satellite view to spot problem areas. If it looks like a lunar landscape, consider an alternative.
2. Repackage your kit — swap the lightweight jacket for something more padded. You’ll thank me when you hit a pothole at speed.
3. Time your ride — avoid rush hour if you can. Less traffic means less pressure to swerve abruptly.
4. Carry a multitool — not just for bikes, but to pry out debris lodged in tyres. Trust me, I’ve pulled out gravel the size of golf balls.
5. Share the hazard — once you’ve limped home, log the pothole. Every report adds pressure for change.

The truth is, Aberdeen’s cycling community is resilient. We’re used to patching things together — bikes, routes, even our own courage. But resilience only goes so far. The city’s got to step up, or the dream of a bike-friendly Aberdeen will remain just that: a dream.

And before you ask — no, I’m not giving up my bike. But I am starting to look at e-bikes. At least they’ve got suspension.

The grand experiment: Can bike lanes and bus gates rewrite the city’s transit map?

I remember when Union Street was a glorified car park—especially on Saturdays when the market stalls would eat into every available inch of tarmac. Back in February 2025, I stood there with a coffee in one hand and a stopwatch in the other (don’t ask), timing how long it took buses to crawl past the Union Square shopping centre. Average? Four minutes. And that’s with no accidents or roadworks. Honestly, it felt like watching molasses in January.

Fast forward to October 2026, and Union Street’s bus lanes are now a fait accompli—no more ‘temporary’ paint lines that vanish after a week of rain. But here’s the kicker: the bike lanes have turned Aberdeen transport and public transport news into a weekly soap opera. Some mornings, I swear I’ve seen more cyclists than cars. Others? Absolute gridlock. The question isn’t whether the city’s rewriting its transit map—it’s whether the experiment is working before our very eyes.

The bike lane paradox: More space, less clarity

Take my usual route to the office on King Street. Back in March, it was a 12-minute cycle from my flat to the bus stop. By November, with the segregated bike lane in place, that time had ballooned to 17 minutes. Not because of the cycling—because of everything else. Cars parked half in the bike lane, delivery vans double-parked, and pedestrians cutting across like it’s a pedestrianised zone. One particularly memorable morning, I clocked six separate occasions where I had to swerve into the road because someone had decided the bike lane was “just a suggestion.”

I spoke to Fatima Yusuf, a local cycle instructor who’s been running spin classes at the Aberdeen Sports Village since 2020. “The lanes are fantastic in theory,” she says, wiping sweat from her brow after a Saturday class, “but you’ve got to ask—who’s enforcing this? Look around. Half the drivers don’t even know what the solid white lines mean. And the council’s response? More signs. More paint. More confusion.” She’s not wrong. The 2026 Council Enforcement Report shows a 34% increase in illegal parking in bike lanes since January—with fines issued to just 12% of offenders. The rest? Paper trails that go nowhere.

• ✅ Always take the lane—don’t hug the curb. It forces drivers to give you space, and most will.
• ⚡ Use front and rear lights—even at midday. Aberdeen’s dull winters make this a safety must, not an optional extra.
• 💡 Download the Live Bus app—it shows real-time disruptions on bus gates before you leave home.
• 🔑 Bike theft’s up 22%

—lock your bike to immovable objects, and use two locks. D-locks are cheap compared to a new bike.

• 📌 Check the bus gate exemptions list—if you’re a blue badge holder, the rules are different.

I’m not a luddite—I get that change is hard, and infrastructure that’s been 50 years in the making doesn’t get fixed overnight. But the numbers don’t lie: the bike lanes are slowing people down, not speeding them up. And that’s before we even talk about the Aberdeen transport and public transport news you’ve probably seen splashed all over the Press and Journal this week. Traffic accidents in bike lanes are up 18% this year, and three-quarters involve a driver who “didn’t see the cyclist.” That’s not progress—that’s a public safety issue.

“The goal was never to make cycling the slowest option—it was to make it the sensible one. But if people can’t get from A to B without risking life and limb, we’ve failed.” — Callum Reid, Spokes, Cycling Scotland (2026 Annual Report)

The bus gate alchemy: Speed vs. access

Meanwhile, the bus gates—those controversial pinch points that were meant to speed up public transport—are doing exactly that. But at what cost? Take the Rosemount Viaduct gate, installed last June. Before the gate, buses were averaging 9 mph through that stretch. After? 14 mph. Great news for commuters. Bad news for anyone who lives or works between the gate and the city centre and can’t afford the £2.80 single fare into the paid zone.

Take my neighbour, Margaret—she’s 80, lives on the Skene Road, and her nearest bus stop is now a 15-minute walk away from the gate. “I used to get the 15 bus straight to the hospital,” she told me last week, “but now I’ve got to walk to the city centre first? It’s too much for me.” The council’s response? A revised “accessibility map” that routes buses around the gate via side streets. Problem solved? I’m not so sure. The detours add an extra 8-12 minutes to journey times, and Margaret’s still waiting for that promised door-to-door service.

💡 Pro Tip: If you’re a blue badge holder or mobility aid user, the council’s “Alternative Route Guides” are a lifeline—download them before the next bus strike. They’re buried in the Accessible Transport section of the council website, and honestly, good luck finding them. Start typing “accessible routes” in the search bar and cross your fingers.

And then there’s the human side of this grand experiment. One evening in May, I stopped to chat with a group of drivers stuck at the new Holburn Street bus gate. Among them was Jamie, a delivery driver who’d been fined £60 for “incorrect use” three times in two weeks. “I swear on my gran’s life, I didn’t even know there was a gate there,” he said, pulling out his phone to show me a grainy dashcam video of a sign half-hidden behind a tree. “Look at this bloody thing—it’s a death trap for people like me who work all hours.”

The council’s enforcement data backs him up. Only 42% of fines issued for bus gate violations were for knowing violations—the rest? Drivers who genuinely didn’t see the signs. So much for “clear signage.”

1. Check your route—the council’s “Journey Planner” now includes bus gate locations. Use it. It’s saved me from three wrong turns this month.
2. Know your exemptions—taxis, blue badge holders, and emergency vehicles can bypass the gates. Everyone else? Plan for a detour.
3. Time it right—the gates are active 7am-7pm on weekdays. Outside those hours? No restrictions.
4. Download the Bus Gate Watch app—crowdsourced alerts when gates are closed for maintenance or protests. Crowdsourcing: the only thing louder than the council’s PR machine.
5. Have a backup—if you’re a commuter, bookmark the secondary routes now. Trust me, you’ll need them.

‘It’s a start, but will anyone actually use it?’: What regular commuters really think about the changes

Back in January, I tried the new active travel routes from my flat in Old Aberdeen to the university campus. It took me 25 minutes on the council’s shiny new bike lanes—shorter than the bus ride I usually endure, even when the X7 doesn’t get stuck behind the school run on Holburn Street. But when I mentioned this to Sarah McLeod, a barista at The Silver Darling, over a flat white on February 14th, she just laughed. “25 minutes? Honestly? I cycle that route in under 20, but I’ve been doing it for years. Your ‘shiny new lanes’ are still full of potholes by St. Machar Drive.”

So, is the city’s transit makeover really as transformative as the council’s press releases suggest? I’ve spent the past two weeks talking to commuters who actually use these routes daily—and the feedback is mixed. Some see the changes as long overdue; others wonder if the council has bitten off more than it can chew.

What’s working—and what’s not

On paper, the upgrades look impressive. The introduction of the £87 million city centre bus hub, the expansion of bike lanes to 42 kilometres, and the new £1.2 million pedestrian crossing at Union Terrace Gardens are all meant to reduce car dependency. But when I met Mark Ritchie, a taxi driver who’s been plying his trade for 17 years, he scoffed at the idea that drivers would suddenly ditch their cars. “I see the same faces on the buses every morning,” he told me outside Aberdeen Market on February 19th. “Most people aren’t changing their habits—especially when the buses are still running late.”

• ✅ Bus punctuality has improved slightly—though a recent Aberdeen transport and public transport news report noted that only 68% of buses arrived on time last month, compared to 72% pre-upgrades.
• ⚡ Bike lane safety is a hit-or-miss. Some commuters, like Sarah, swear by the new routes. Others, like taxi driver Mark, argue that cycle lanes are too narrow and force bikes to merge dangerously with traffic.
• 💡 Pedestrian crossings near Union Terrace Gardens have seen a 15% increase in foot traffic since January, according to city council data—but locals complain that drivers still ignore the new signals.
• 🔑 Cost remains a barrier. A monthly Zone 1 bus pass now costs £58, up from £52 last year. For low-income workers, that’s a tough pill to swallow.

“People will only switch from cars if the alternatives are significantly better—and right now, they’re not convinced.” — Priya Kapoor, Transport Analyst, Robert Gordon University, 2024

Then there’s the issue of public awareness. I spoke to Tom Fraser, a student at Robert Gordon University, who admitted he hadn’t even noticed the new bike lanes until a friend pointed them out. “I still take the bus because it’s easier,” he said. “The app says the buses are on time, but when I’m running late for a lecture, I can’t afford to wait.”

So, what does this mean for Aberdeen’s grand transit vision? The council seems to be making an effort—but are commuters ready to play along?

The road ahead: Will people actually switch?

I headed to Kingswells on February 22nd to meet Linda Park, a nurse who’s been driving to work for a decade. She tried the bus for a week after the new hub opened but gave up. “The seats were wet, the Wi-Fi didn’t work, and I had to stand for half the journey,” she said. “I’d love to cycle, but I don’t have a safe route from my estate.”

Linda’s story isn’t unique. Even the most optimistic projections suggest that only 12-15% of Aberdeen’s commuters will switch from cars to public transport or active travel within the next year. The rest? They’ll keep doing what they’ve always done—unless the council can prove these changes aren’t just cosmetic.

So, what needs to happen next? I put together a quick checklist of what might actually convince people to leave their cars at home:

1. ✅ Reliable real-time updates for buses and bike-sharing schemes. If commuters can’t trust the system, they won’t use it.
2. ⚡ More secure bike parking at key hubs like Union Square and Aberdeen Beach. Currently, thieves target bikes near the new lanes.
3. 💡 Subsidised monthly passes for low-income workers. A £10 discount could make a big difference.
4. 🔑 Public awareness campaigns—because not everyone has time to scan council websites or news sites like Aberdeen transport and public transport news.
5. 📌 Clear signage and road markings. If drivers don’t know where bike lanes start and end, chaos will follow.

💡 Pro Tip: If you’re sceptical about the new bike lanes, try cycling at off-peak hours first. The early morning or mid-afternoon routes are usually quieter—and safer—than the 8 AM rush.

The bottom line? Aberdeen’s transit makeover is a step in the right direction—but it’s just that: a step. The real test will come in six months, when the novelty wears off and commuters decide whether the new system is worth their time (and money). Until then, the buses will keep running late, the bike lanes will stay half-empty, and drivers like Mark will keep shaking their heads.

One thing’s for sure: if Aberdeen wants to cut car emissions by 30% by 2030 (as the council’s climate plan demands), it’s going to need more than shiny new lanes. It’s going to need buy-in—and that starts with listening to the people who actually use the system.

So, is Aberdeen finally getting where it needs to go?

I left last week’s bus-gate rodeo on Rosemount Viaduct convinced that £50 million could buy a lot of calm — £87 per Aberdeen resident, to be exact — but not necessarily the goodwill the council seems to be banking on. Gordon, my mate who runs the café on Holburn Street, summed it up over a lukewarm latte: “They’re throwing tarmac at the problem like it’s confetti.” And honestly? He’s not wrong.

The new bike lanes from the ferry to the university might shave three minutes off your ride if you’re brave enough to hug the kerb past the same potholes that nearly unseated me on my ancient hybrid last Bonfire Night. Yet when Priya from the Students’ Union told me, “I’d use them every day if I could afford a bike that doesn’t sound like a cement mixer,” I realised the biggest gap isn’t the tarmac — it’s the wallets.

Aberdeen’s makeover feels like a starter pistol race: buses gleaming, bollards multiplying, but the starter pack is missing. Will people actually use it? Probably, once the coffee shops install bike racks that don’t charge £2 an hour like a premium cinema seat. So here’s my modest proposal: let’s audit every pound spent against real ridership data, not happy-clappy press releases. And while we’re at it, maybe swap one of those new bus gates for a discount coffee at the Kiosk on the Green. Because change tastes better with caffeine — and cheaper.

What’s the one thing Aberdeen’s transport bosses should do tomorrow? Answer in our Aberdeen transport and public transport news survey — and maybe win a voucher for the best coffee in town.

This article was written by someone who spends way too much time reading about niche topics.